SLA attacks Irupalai auto-rickshaw drivers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 December 2005, 13:04 GMT]Drivers of auto-rickshaws at Irupalai junction located on Jaffna-Point Pedro road Irupalai, 5 km North east of Jaffna town, were attacked again Sunday morning by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers, in retaliation for complaining to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Saturday afternoon when SLA soldiers had attacked them and forced them away from the junction threatening them not to return.

SLA had opened fire at the auto-stand to disperse the auto-drivers for using the junction to conduct their business. One auto-rickshaw and another motorbike of a civilian left abandoned at the junction were moved to the nearby SLA camp.

All businesses in Irupalai were closed and the junction was deserted from midday Sunday, sources said.

Tension spread to nearby Kalviyankadu and Kopay areas where activity came to a standstill following the Irupalai attacks.

The SLA troops involved in the incident are from the same camp from where six soldiers and an SLA official were killed in a Claymore attack on the 4 December.